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Topic Review (Newest First)

06-12-2014 11:36 PM

shepherdmom

Quote:

Originally Posted by liferebooted

I got my girl when she was 10 weeks old, she just turned 7 months old and is spayed. I'm having some annoying issues with her. First off, I did take her to obedience training and she passed just fine but at home she behaves a lot worse. She'll listen to her commands to sit/stay/free/down but thats its. At 7 months shes is still mouthing\biting. I managed to get her to stop biting everyone else in my family when she wants to be petted by them but she bites me all day long.

Have you tried frozen marrow bones? When my puppy gets bitey usually in the evenings I take a frozen marrow bone or something similar and stick him in the crate with it for about 1/2 -45 mins. He gets his chewing in. After that we can go play and he is a lot less bitey.

It sounds like your puppy is bored and under-exercised. Leashed walks aren't adequate exercise; is there a safe place you can take your dog to give her some real exercise? Long fetches, swimming, even just an off leash romp would do well to tire her out. I would also suggest enrolling in an obedience class, maybe even rally or nose work. Your dog needs to be mentally stimulated as well, and this will help her calm down. I would teach the puppy to be calm inside and that playing is for outside. You can look up threads on "sitting on the leash" to help teach this concept. Provide toys, chews, frozen kongs, etc inside. Tugs, fetch, chasing the water hose etc are for outside.

I also have a 7 month old GSD with smaller/older dogs (3yr old/8lb chihuahua/dachshund mix, 7yr old/30lb Australian shepherd mix, 7yr old/38lb lab mix) and a cat. When we brought Bear home at 12 weeks, he was leashed inside the house and boundaries were set. With training and consistency he needed the leash less and less...it's been several months since he's had one on inside. The other dogs were also expected to accept Bear - I am not doing crate/rotate nor would I leash a dog inside indefinitely. I would unleash your puppy inside, but expect her to be wild at first because she is not used to freedom. You may need to separate her and your other dogs at first. I would work on getting her to behave in the house without a leash before adding the distraction of other dogs. Then slowly introduce them one at a time, setting boundaries with all of the dogs. Keep redirecting your puppy away from the other dogs and teach him to ignore them. You want them to be neutral with each other.

It will take time and work to have them all coexist peacefully. 7 month old puppies are, well, annoying. Older smaller dogs don't generally appreciate their antics, so you have to manage the situation. I know that my puppy needs a good dose of exercise to behave, so we start the morning off with off leash exercise (swimming, fetch, just a good off leash walk on the trails, etc). All 4 dogs go together, and it's a good way to bond. Afterwards everyone can relax at home together. I don't expect all my dogs to love each other all the time, but I do expect to be able to enjoy them together. You may need to separate them some times (baby gates, crates). You need to provide the older dogs with a safe place away from the puppy, and make sure to still give them one-on-one attention too.

Good luck! It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

05-30-2014 12:31 PM

MoosesMama

liferebooted - just wanted to let you know, I'm going through the same thing w/ my 7 month old male! I have no solutions for you - LOL, I need some myself. Just wanted you to know you are not alone. Maybe our dogs are not so "abnormal" after all eh? I'm taking mine to a new trainer too, so we shall see!

05-29-2014 04:34 PM

Mishka&Milo

My advice would be... On the biting, say "ouch" followed by a 30 second time out, or a few seconds of turning around and letting no fun occur. My girl was a rescue and only 5 weeks when we got her.... So she hadn't learned not to bite. We started by letting her bite and only saying ouch when it really hurt (to teach her how hard was too hard) after she learned that we said ouch if her teeth even touched us. This worked well. She is 7 months now and doesn't mouth at all. I'm sorry you had such a bad training experience! Those are the people who give prong collars a bad name. I use both positive and negative. The clear communication works wonders. Negative is only used when she clearly disobeys a command she KNOWS backward and forward. Let me know if there are any specific behaviors you need help with and I'd love to give some specifics.

I had this problem with Alice too. I tried everything i could find on the net to stop her play biting but it didn't work. So i consulted a local dog trainer n he asked me to pull her collar away from my skin while giving her a firm 'no' whenever she bites. Her biting did reduce n for the past few weeks she hasn't been biting at all. She does do it accidentally once in a while or if I accidentally pull on her fur while trying to stop her from running out of her kennel when the door's open (she is an escape artist, used to climb the fence to get out when she was a pup). The moment she realises what she bit me she grabs her chewy toy and runs off. As long as she doesn't break your skin you don't have to worry. About the running around it is because your dog is excited. It is like if you had spent a whole week cooped up in your house and finally you get the chance to go out, wouldn't you be excited? They have high energy levels so they tend to show their excitement in a much more energetic way.

I think letting her off leash more inside is your best bet. Just do your best to manage it...the problem will pass. She is not used to freedom, so when she gets it, she will freak out. Try only allowing her to be off leash in a room with a closed door first.
To stop the crazies, ignore her until she stops. Do not do anything at all, don't even look at her. It may take her awhile to catch on, but she will improve.

05-28-2014 07:36 PM

liferebooted

Hi guys, I still take her on a few 30 minute walks and even though she pants it doesn't really kill her energy. I take her out back now on the 16 foot leash and since it isn't really anywhere near long enough for a GSD I toss her ball against the part of the house without siding so that it bounces and she really has to chase it around this seems to really tire her out after 30 minutes of it, we do it a few times a day.

Instead of yelling at her when she bites me I've been praising her when she lets go\grabs what I offer her instead and it really seems to be working, she is mouthing much less already.

PS. Its strange having a dog who knows how to play fetch and bring the ball back to me without even having to train her to do so. Shes 7 months old and smarter than my 10-13 year old dogs of other breeds.

05-28-2014 01:08 AM

lalachka

Quote:

Originally Posted by liferebooted

Sometimes when I just try to pet her she'll put my arm in her mouth, I don't know if its mouthing or biting, she never comes close to breaking the skin but I have eczema so I have cuts all over already so it really hurts. The only time it really feels like she is biting is when she brings me something to throw outside, she won't let go and when I grab it she bites my hand because she knows I'll let go, but then she wonders why I can't through it.

I really am making her sound terrible but she really is sweet most of the time, she just has a few kinks.